Most difficult class to grade so far because so many guys have the same skill level and are middle of the road. There aren’t any obvious misses like Krebs or Cowdin in this class; there are a handful of superior athletes. Most are in the middle, though, with little distinguishing them. Something I noticed is that OSU signed a lot of guys who lacked major conference interest. A lot of “Cal Poly, Eastern Washington” type players. More so than usual. As such, that gives one the feeling that this class was to add depth rather than “take the next step” on the field. In reality, the top 10 guys all have game-changing potential. So it’s not a bad class, just a deceptively decent one.

You can view my past rankings here. My system is 1-5 stars like all the other sites, and I rank guys in order, so Liuchan would be the best singee, Nall second best, and so forth. I decided to link film this year for your convenience.

Fitou Fisiiahi, Ath — Disruptive. LB looks to be his college position.

Marcus McMaryion, QB– Impressive ability to escape pocket break downs. Good scrambler, above average arm strength. Checks down on film, which suggests high football IQ. Seems to have good feel for the game. Lack of offers implies grade issues. Mid to high 3 star if grades pan out.

Kammy Delp, DT — Hard to draw conclusions from his film. Looks dominant at times, but looks like a project at other times. Good size and plays with attitude. “Kammy” might be one of the worst names for a male football player I’ve ever heard.

Tanner Sanders, QB/WR — As a QB, he is a zero star recruit. As a WR he’s a 3 star who reminds me a lot of Jeff Maehl. Probably doesn’t contribute until later in his career.

Yanni Demogerontas, OL — He actually looks good, but had no good offers. Am I missing something, or did 120 d1 schools? Needs to add 25lbs, ASAP.

Glyeb Ewing, Looks like Dylan Wynn but a step slower. His offer sheet is terrible. I’m neutral on him.

Drew Clarkson, OL — Good strength and body size. You can see on film he gives up on plays too soon. Lack of awareness. Can this be coached? To some extent. But it implies a lack of focus and discipline that could hamper this guy.

Nick Mitchell, QB– Unorthodox delivery and jump step when throwing. Tape looks more impressive than it is due to wide open WRs. Average arm strength, nice touch passer. Reminds me a bit of Chad Pennington.

Kevin Hayes, DB — Beavs recruited him as a CB, yet most of his film is at KR or WR. He reminds me of Keenan Lewis. I think this guy can contribute, but I don’t see a shut down CB or game changer here.

Harris Ross, RB — Runs with passion and energy, but lacks top end speed. Think Yevenson Bernard. (Has not signed yet).

** (2-star)

Sumner Houston, DE — Typical “heart of a champion” De La Salle player. Heart can take a player far so he might surprise to the upside. Plays with high IQ (watch him on blocks, it is impressive). Could be a dominant special teams player if he doesn’t find a position.

Xavier Hawkins, CB — People love this guy. Even folks in Tennessee say he’s the most underrated player in the State. I personally do not see it. I see Malcolm Marable part 2.

Xavier Crawford, CB — Out of the Xavier CBs I like Hawkins much better. Consider this ranking logarithmic. (has not yet signed)

Bobby Keenan, OL — Has some good offers, but looks totally clueless out there. Needs big time coaching.

Trent Moore, OL — Looks more like a TE than OL. Position change in the offing?

Dwayne Williams, DB — Considered making him a 1-star, but lowest of the 2 seems more accurate since he has ball skills. Gets beat and turned around a lot on “highlight” film.

* (1-star)

Jake Knight, TE — As a TE, this guy is a 1 star, if not 0. But he’s the long snapper. Should be fine.

Unknown:

Bright Ugwoegbu, DB — Pretty good offer sheet, and some good schools had interest late in his recruitment. Cannot find film.

Luke Hollingworth, DE — Could not find film of this player. His offer sheet implies limited upside.

Liuchan, Fisiiahi, and Willis would look great on the field at the same time. Del Rio looks like a good one, nice to see a QB hit his receivers in stride. These WRs look to be running plays very similar to OSU’s, hopefully they can pick it up quickly. Guyton looks like a nice pick up. Isn’t Hawkins coming in as a WR?

But let’s keep in mind: he originally signed with Miami. That implies some things about a guy’s personality…things that might not mesh with small town Corvallis. Worry about him fitting in. But if he does, he should be good (though he was pretty bad in limited time at Miami).

Kline was a 4-star as well, and I like him fine, but I think Del Rio looks better. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kline went elsewhere (though he recently said he’s still transferring to OSU).

Pritchard…can’t find any film so I can’t say. But I’m not excited about him. His one plus is maturity. He’ll be pretty old by the time he suits up.

All of these guys will sit out 2014 so not sure if they should be included in the class.

Sorry, you’re correct.
From the official site: Jalen transferred to Oregon State in August and is required by NCAA rules to sit out the 2013 season … he is eligible to practice immediately and will have two years of eligibility remaining beginning in 2014.

Great list and insight! I looked back at the old ones, and you pretty much nailed it. There were a few misses, but more hits for sure. Some were because of not showing up here.

I am not as high on the LB’s as you, but agree they are strong. I also not sure about Morris, I he is a Nelson clone. I like Soesman, Guyton, and Fisiiahi as well. I Hawkins a little bit higher than you.

I also think Clarkson should be higher, they say he still isn’t 100% back from his testicular cancer, so I could a big upside. I think Robert Olson is underrated, but overall the OL look like projects. Sounds like Clarkson is a target Center.

Yanni not so high on. He broke his leg so he has no Senior film, that maybe why his offers are low?

OL is difficult to analyze for a variety of reasons.
Clarkson might be better than I have him. I think he’ll need serious coaching, because on film I saw him disengage his block early on several plays. Then he kind of just stands around. That’s a turn off for me, but if a coach (Riley in this case) thinks he can fix it the guy might have potential.

The behavior you saw may be explained by lingering effects of chemo. Clarkson reportedly told Jim Rome that, “he was only playing at an average of 75% throughout the season due to the treatments and fatigue.” Sounds like a reasonable explanation to me, I think he has very good potential.

Additionally, any thought from film of “a lack of focus and discipline that could hamper this guy” seems off base given this from the article: “… Clarkson would hole up in the weight room, training both his body and mind for the arrival of his dream, even as the chemotherapy treatments drained his stamina and his hair fell out.”

Hamlett has turned into a solid player, but his lack of speed will never allow him to turn into a great player. Smith and him should make a formidable duo next year. Hopefully Nall turns into a downfield
threat at that position. Pretty solid group for next season. Go Beavs!

I hope we have enough talent and depth not to have to play someone on both sides… I’m tired just thinking of it. You double the risk of injury too. I would hope at this level a team wouldn’t have to but we are talking about the bad news Beavs here.

The point isn’t that he would play constantly. It’s that he would play a position on both sides of the ball which is used sparingly–MLB and FB. Some games this past year you would have seen both combined for a total of less than ten plays… or so it seemed.

I get a kick out of seeing SR standing amongst the tall timber wbb players. I realize recruits have images of programs they are considering and there are few surprises, but I have a vision of one of the 6ft + women meeting the coach for the first time.

I don’t think so yet. Still has a shot at a .500 conference record. The team hasn’t given up at all. Arizona’s talent was just too much. The beavs would have to have shot 60% to even have a chance.

He’ll need to go 4 and 3 down the stretch to be clear of any firing talk. That would end up with a 500 conference record and 17 wins. Last year a winning record and .500 in conference got you an NIT bid.

I DVR’d it too, but the wife accidentally killed the recording by recording the Olympics, reprioritizing the game into skip land. I was upset until I saw the score.

Coach Rob will likely get one more year after this. Although, he has made noises like he knows his position is tenuous right now. The last of his first recruiting class is finally leaving this year. Hell, the last of his second class is also leaving (assuming Moreland goes). The younger players are better than their elders. But inexperience holds them back. If they show out next year, then it’s all good. If they don’t, then the hot seat turns into ash.

You know I thought they looked good for awhile. On defense they were really trapping and playing agressive in the passing lanes. However, they still have a major problem, which Arizona exploited to no end and that is interior defense. They are not good on ball defenders, so a good athletic player can just slash to the rim for easy looks. Then the they often bring the big from the weakside to cover up that weakness and try to get a block, but that leaves the off ball open for the easy put back.

Arizona used a run in the last 3 minutes of the half to stretch out a tied game to a lead of double digits, and the Beavs showed little life after that. Give ‘Zona credit they are a talented team, and they were patient to let the game come to them and eventually overpower the Beavs.

I think the respectable conference record calmed everyone down. Not much firing talk now.

CR has confused me from the start. I always associated him with good recruiting due to that first class. He’s just average, though. Maybe slightly better players than prior coaches, but a slightly worse coach.

How is this for a name and why have the Beavs not offered this kid?
Equanimeous St. Brown – Yahoo! Sports – Rivals.com
rivals.yahoo.com/…/football/…/player-Equanimeous-St.%20Brown-149450
Equanimeous St. Brown Player Profile, Stats, and recruiting information on Yahoo! Sports.

I’d be very, very surprised if we see a “major” letdown from a Casey coached team. Of course it is always possible, particularly if one of the starting pitchers went off track. Not saying this crew will be #1 all season long, there is too much competition and ‘luck ‘o the Beavs’ for that. That said, i would just as soon seen the Beavs at #4 or so in this ranking.

BTW, did ya notice they have the ucks at #4 and still show the now “out for the year” Cole irvin in the rotation? They’ll get a good test end of Feb vs Cal Fullerton.

Only 4 days till the first game. Wonder if Jay Reese will be broadcasting till Parker finishes basketball. Some here dislike Reese, but I don’t mind at all.

Nonconference schedule for baseball is tougher than it looks. They play Nebraska twice in the first two weeks and Nebraska has a good squad. They were a NCAA regional caliber team at the end of last season and nearly knocked off a damn good Indiana team to make it there. They’ll be pretty good this season. Michigan State nearly made the NCAA regionals as well and they’ll be good. Midweek game against a solid Ohio State team won’t be easy. Their home nonconference schedule is pretty light overall though. By conference time if they take care of their business, they’ll have some really nice wins on their resume.

Angry, you’ve said before that OSU only needs legit 3* talent to win. In this class, you have six 4* and thirteen 3*s.

The 4* are at need positions of QB, LB, and DT. There’s an intriguing 3* QB in McMaryion (who I thought might end up going elsewhere), and 3*s spread across the position groups.

It’d be nice if some of the CBs were more clearly DI ready, but other than that, this class is looking better than I (and I think others) expected.

That said, with I think 4 Pac programs bringing in top 25 classes by some estimations, it will likely be difficult for Riley to move the dial meaningfully in league unless he really capitalizes on the OC opportunity before him, the DTs pan out, and the Oline starts run blocking consistently.

I maintain that 2014 is “the year of the Beaver” (such as it is). I think a 9 win season could be possible next year, which means Riley probably tops out at 7 unless his OC hire takes things to another level.

As far as the OC goes: I haven’t seen anyone post yet here but Mama is saying the front runner is John Garrett who was the Wide Receivers coach at Tampa Bay last year, brother of Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, and former player for Riley in San Antonio. She seems to think he has an offer. Take it for what it’s worth.

The good news is that the defense should be filled with Seniors. Zimmerman, Murphy, Alexander, Doctor, Wynn, Nelson, and Delva. The bad news is that veteran group will present alot of wholes to fill in the next coming seasons. But they could incorporate several new guys along the DL and possibly at LB.

Offense will have a Senior QB, and vets at RB. Were it gets tricky on the offensive side is on the OL. They will have Isaac, and Harlow returning. Then they have to patch the line together with Bays, Andrews, and Weinreich/Mitchell/Saplou? At TE you have Seniors Hamlett, Perry and Junior Caleb Smith then you have Transfer Will Hopkins and Soph Kellen Clute.

At WR you have a ton of production to replace and have to do with guys who have not seen a ton of action. You Mullaney, who when healthy can produce but his size allows him to get worn down. Bolden who has experience as a true frosh, but hasn’t shown the ability to separate from defenders off the line or run routes. Malik Gilmore who has seen some action, but has the drops. Jordan Villamin who is on scholly but has yet to participate do to academics? Then you have good potential in Harmon, but will be missing Spring ball while playing baseball. The unknown is Walter Jones. It will be essential for Mannion to develop some chemistry with whoever it its during the Spring and Summer to make for a smooth transition. Huge question marks on offense.

“They will have Isaac, and Harlow returning. Then they have to patch the line together with Bays, Andrews, and Weinreich/Mitchell/Saplou”

I thought this recent Oline recruiting classes was supposed to be one of the better ones? Why is it “patching the line” together? Isaac is likely to return at Center and make all the calls, unless he moves to OT and Mitchell takes over at center.

So what is the problem with Bays/Andre/Weireich/Harlow? Over-rated as incoming recruits? I don’t understand why it is so difficult for them to learn their positions and how to block. I generally attribute it to poor coaching; we always hear how complex OSU’s systems are, and how difficult they are to learn, but I’ve never understood how it is so complex for a DT or Olineman?

Throw in experienced TEs and an HB to help with blocking, and what should be a fully recovered Tyler Anderson at FB, and potential FBs in this year’s class, and the Oline issues are difficult to rationalize.

As somebody pointed about the 2013 Oline, there was no WILL to run block most of the year.

The Oline has been getting better by attrition for five years now. There will come a time when the current crop of players graduate as well. That’s why I constantly harp about always always always recruiting Oline prospects every year. The 2011 class was amazing, but we can add one or two such linemen every year as well… like a Harlow.

Next year will be better than last year. The only player I worry about is Weinreich with the constant injuries.

The one thing that we will miss the year is the steady Sr wideout that has been slowly coming on and then blossoms into an important cog his last year. Cummings was the latest in a long line and the O really took a hit without him. He was a third down safety valve for Mannion and team and QB struggled when he was out. The guy that should be filling that role is Boom, who unfortunately couldn’t catch herpes in a Mexican whore house. Why did it take our staff four years to realize the guy can’t catch with the lights on?
BTW, didn’t they switch Hopkins OT?

As lore goes: there’s a very believable story about Luke Hollingsworth that he had interest from some of the larger schools, and they we’re keeping tabs on him under the impression that he was a 2015 recruit. Us crafty Beavers looking under every rock were the only school to notice he actually was getting his transfer degree this year and scooped him up before the bigger fish entered the pond. Reverse luck o’ the beavs?

Are you sure you watched his film?? He makes everyone look like 8th graders. Maybe the comp is weak but no chance this guy is Marble. He looks to be possibly a better version of Victor Bolden in my estimation

When the guys show up in the fall, Hayes will be the best cover guy on the roster. Not sure if he is ready for all responsibilities. He will be the best at man coverage. Hopefully some of the linebackers can play now because the returners have not made it thru a full season without injury and it is not likely that they will make it thru next season without missing games. I think that Ewing is faster than Wynn and Olson made several good secondary blocks on film. They both need to get stronger, but they are keepers.

I drop a comment whenever I like a article on a site or if I have something to add to the
conversation. It is a result of the fire displayed in the article I read.

And on this post angrybeavs.com | A Critical View of Oregon State Athletics.
I was actually excited enough to write a leave a responsea response I actually do have 2 questions for you if you tend not to mind.
Is it simply me or does it appear like a few of these remarks come across
like they are coming from brain dead people? And, if you are writing at additional online sites, I’d like to keep up with everything new you have to post.

Could you list the complete urls of your community pages like your twitter feed,
Facebook page or linkedin profile?